Thursday 26 November 2009

Everything from Freakonomics to Atonement has made it onto the The Onion's AV Club best books of the 00s list.

Part of our job here at the Wheeler Centre is to keep you up-to-date with what's happening in the literary online world.

Amongst the thousands of blogs devoted to all things books, writing and ideas, some of our favourites include Reeling and Writhing, a chatty blog about books by Genevieve Tucker, a newsy blog called Still Life with a Cat by Kerryn Goldsworthy and Perry Middlemiss' extensive literary blog Matilda.

If you're looking for the inside tip on literary Australia, you could do worse than to pay a visit to the Meanjin blog Spike, from the literary journal of the same name, or visit Overland. And as a handy example of just the kind of thing we're aiming to do here at the Centre, the two journals will be teaming up for our Meanland event in February, Reading in a Time of Change.

Today Victorian Arts Minister Lynne Kosky officially announced our new name, the Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas.

We also announced our first public events, which will happen in February, and launched our Twitter account.

Our Director Chrissy Sharp was joined by Tony and Maureen Wheeler, for whom the centre is named.

Maureen and Tony Wheeler, for whom the Centre is named, with Director Chrissy Sharp at the launch

The Wheelers founded and ran Lonely Planet, one of Australia's most successful publishing houses, for over 30 years until last year, when they sold a majority interest to BBC-Worldwide.

They remain closely involved with the company and are now supporting Melbourne's new Centre for Books Writing and Ideas through their Planet Wheeler Foundation.